Sanity, in at least one high-profile U.S. Senate race, is something to cheer. Take what's happening in Massachusetts, where Harvard professor and Democrat Elizabeth Warren is challenging incumbent Republican Sen. Scott Brown. Warren and Brown are signing the People's Pledge, an agreement designed to stop super-PAC ads from dominating the airwaves.

Here's how it would work in the U.S. Senate race. Any candidate favored in a third-party ad on TV, radio or online must contribute half the ad's costs to the opposing candidate's selected charity within three days after the ad goes up. If nothing else, it's a bonanza for charity. Who knows? If it works in Massachusetts, the proposal to keep money from poisoning the political season could spread elsewhere.

All of this, of course, is in response to Citizens United, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that loosened the restrictions on money in politics. The corporations or individuals who want to drown a particular candidate in donations can't give directly, of course. Contributions go to a third-party political action committee -- or super-PAC -- and can be spent at will. Already, the Republican presidential primary has demonstrated how third-party money can change a race. Newt Gingrich's improbable candidacy for president has been kept alive because of multimillion-dollar donations from one man. First Sheldon Adelson gave $5 million. Then he and his wife, Dr. Miriam Adelson, gave another $5 million, both to Gingrich's super-PAC, Winning Our Future. The money allowed Gingrich to fight back and kept his campaign alive for the Republican presidential nomination.

Even in Massachusetts, pre-pledge, Karl Rove's group already has spent $1 million in the Brown-Warren contest. And the deal between candidates, though, isn't binding on television or radio stations that want political ad dollars. The deal can't even stop the super-PACs -- they can do as they choose. Still, the notion that two candidates as different as Warren and Brown are trying to stop money from distorting their race is a positive step. Brown had the idea, and Warren refined it.

Corruption in government doesn't occur after the candidate wins an election; it starts early, from the first campaign, when donors begin lining up to buy access and influence. Diluting the power of money in elections is the first step to taking back government for the people and away from the fat cats and special interests. A small step, but progress. We'd bet more than a few New Mexicans would support fewer political ads come this fall, when candidates to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman will be battling. We need a People's Pledge in New Mexico.